Tuna, our senior mini terrier dog, has been through so much. He was cruelly mistreated, left malnourished, and abandoned by a heartless family. Since we rescued him, heโs had multiple surgeries to remove large, dangerous tumors, and has always suffered from painful, recurring ear infections.
Recently, we scheduled a surgery to clean his ears (an otoscopy) and remove a new mass found in his stomach. Before proceeding, we did a CT scanโand what we found left us in shock.
Tuna has ear canal stenosis, a condition where the ear canals become extremely narrow due to chronic infection and inflammation. In his case, the infection had been so severe and untreated for so long that the cartilage in his ears had hardened, almost like bone. This caused permanent damage, and sadly, no treatment or cleaning will help anymore.
Tuna is already barely hearing, and to stop the pain and prevent more infection, both ear canals will need to be surgically closedโa procedure that will leave him completely DEAF. Itโs heartbreaking, but itโs the only way to relieve his pain.
The only good news: the mass in his stomach turned out to be a benign nodule, resting on a very delicate area of the intestine. The surgeon decided itโs too risky to remove it and confirmed it wonโt grow, so it was left untouched.
Tuna is now scheduled for two more surgeries:
โข First ear: next week
โข Second ear: 10 days later
Tuna was suffering in silence๐
We still need to raise $580 for his surgeries.
The original surgery (nodule + otoscopy) was estimated at $1,200. But now, with the new discovery, we are waiting for an updated quote. Hopefully it will stay within that rangeโbut it definitely wonโt be less.
Please help us cover the $580 still missing. Every dollar counts.